Railway-rail



P. L. PITMAN. RAILWAY. RAIL.

(N0 Model.)

No. 488,444. Patented Oct. 14, 1890.

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I Elvwewboi $14455 7 "ATENT FFICE.

FRED L. PITMAN, OF WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.

RAI LWAY-RAI L.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,444, dated October14, 1890.

Application filed April 28, 1890. Serial No. 349,786. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED L. PITMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Wilmington, in the county of New Hanover and State of NorthCarolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Rails, of which the following is a description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference markedthereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in railway-rails, and moreparticularly to what are known as compound rails.

Heretofore in the use of compound rails, of which many forms have beenproposed, various difficulties have been encountered, prominent amongwhich is that of constant poundingof theparts upon each other,wherebythey soon become loose, not only allowing them to rattle, but alsocausing them to wear out very rapidly.

The principal object of my invention is therefore to provide a compoundrail which shall be practically solid and continuous, thus eliminatingall the evils and expense incident to jointing, and at the same timemaking all necessary allowance for expansion, the parts of said railbeing so interlocked as to entirely prevent movement of either part uponthe other, thereby preventing all pounding and rattling.

In practice the head of a rail is always the first to become worn anduseless, and it is one of the objects of my invention to provide a railin which the head can be removed and replaced by a new one withoutdisturbing the lower portion, which thus remains spiked to thecross-ties.

The invention therefore consists in the 1n atters hereinafter described,and pointed out in the appended claims. Y

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a compound rail embodying theinvention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of my improved rail. Fig. 3 is aside elevation of one of the sections, showing the formation ofbolt-holes used by me to allow for the expansion of the rails. Fig. 4 isa similar view of the opposite section. Fig. 5 is a side view of thetool used in placing the parts of the rail together.

In the drawings, A is the lower portion of chairof the rail, adapted tobe secured to the cross-ties by spikes in the ordinary manner. ThechairA has an upwardly-extending flange I), made integral therewith andforming onehalf of the web of the complete rail.

' Adjacent to the base of the flange b, and extending the whole lengthof the rail, is'a groove 0, adapted to receive the lower edge of adownwardly-extending flange cl, similar to b, but made integral with theheadB of the rail and forming the other half of the web. The upper edgeof the flange b rests in a groove c',similarto 0, formed upon the underside of the head B and adjacent to the flange d.

It has been found in practice that a stronger and better constructioncan be obtained by making the notches or grooves c c inclined ratherthan perfectly vertical, and hence it is necessary to correspondinglyincline the lower and upper ends of the flanges cl and I), respectively.It will be seen that by this arrangement and construction the lower andupper parts of the rail will fit closely together, forming when boltedan exceedingly strong and durable rail.

As explained, the edges of the two portions of the rail interfit andmake a very firm and durable connection; but in order to still furtherincrease the security of the union of the two parts of which the rail isformed, I form upon the inside surfaces of both portions 1) and dcontinuous oppositely-inclined grooves, which interfit when the partsare in position, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, and very greatlyincrease the surface which supports the top portion of the rail.Obviously, if the inclined surfaces or teeth between the chair and therail were dispensed with, the parts of the rail would be held togetheronly by whatever fric tion might exist between the two flangescomprising the web. This in practice has been shown to be insufficient.Hence the parts of the rail soon become loose and worn, whereas bygrooving the adjacent surfaces, as shown, a permanent interlockingconnection is afforded between the two parts, which entirely counteractsthe strong tendency of dismemberment which the head of the rail receivesfrom the rapidly-revolving wheels of a passing train.

One of the difliculties in the maintenance of track, and also a greatsource of danger, is what is known as the creeping of the rails. With myimproved compound rail the joints of the chairs are arranged to occur asnear as possible to the middle portions of the top parts of the rails,so that the treads of the rails may be secured at their centers andallowed to expand toward their extremities. In this mannor theirregularities produced by low joints and battered rail ends areeliminated, and a railway-track can be constructed which will beuniformly elastic throughout, the advantages of which must be apparent.

Allowance is made for expansion by forming the bolt-holes in the ends ofthe rails of oval shape, while the corresponding holes in the centers ofthe chair-sections are round. Conversely the holes in the ends of thechairsections will be elliptical and the corresponding holes in thecenters of the rails circular. In this manner the expansion of bothparts of my compound rail is provided for. Connecting-plates, preferablyof the form shown in the drawings, are placed against the side of theweb of the compound rail at all joints, and also at such intermediatepoints as may be found in practice to be necessary, and bolted up in theordinary manner. Any desired form of bolt may be employed.

I am aware that compound rails, parse, have heretofore been proposed,and am also aware that it is old to provide the web of a rail withsuitable projections meshing with notches on the fish-plates; but noone, so far as is known to me, has ever constructed a compound rail ofint-erfitting sections, said sections being inclined on their edges tofit correspondinglyinclined grooves formed therein, nor, so far as I amaware, has it ever been proposed to form a compound rail of twointerfitting sections provided with inclined intermeshingsurfacesforming interlocking steps or teeth and tending to prevent loosening anddisengagement.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is

1. A compound rail composed of interfitting sections having a series ofintermeshing surfaces, said intermeshing surfaces being inclinedvertically, but approximately straight horizontally, thereby forminginterlocking steps or teeth, substantially as described.

2. A compound rail comprising a lower portion or chair, an inclinedlongitudinal groove formed therein, an upwardly-extending flangeprovided with inclined teeth on its inner face, an upper portionconsisting of a head having an inclined longitudinal groove on its lowerface, a downWardly-extending flange having teeth meshing with the flangeon the lower portion, both of said flanges being inclined on their edgesto lit the longitudinal grooves in the opposing section, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRED I. PITMAN.

Witnesses:

H. E. McCoY, GEO. M. BROCKMANN.

